“And that’s me?” I can hear the disbelief in her voice.
“That’s you and your daughter.” Seeing I’ve rendered her speechless, I shut her door and smile. She just shakes her head, the same smile playing on her lips as she hits the remote on her visor for the garage door and backs out. I watch her until I can no longer see her before closing the door and heading inside to get my phone. Stripping down to my boxer briefs, I climb into bed and wait to hear that they made it home okay.
I wake to the sound of my daughter’s voice. I open my eyes and try to focus on where it’s coming from and what she’s saying.
“She’s sweeping,” I hear her say. “You gots a game today?” There’s a pause. “You’re going to be on TV?” she says, her four-year-old voice full of awe. “You’ll have to tell my mommy that. I can’t tell time yet.”
I stifle my laugh. “Paisley,” I say, causing her to jump.
She whips her head around to look at me from her spot on the floor just beside my bed. “She’s awake, East. Tell her about the TV so I can watch you.” She then pulls the phone from her ear, and hands it to me, just to take it back. She lifts it back to her ear. “Bye, East!” She yells too loudly as if she needs to in order for him to hear her, then hands the p
hone to me. This time, I’m able to grab it from her hands.
“Hello.”
“Morning, beautiful.”
“Morning,” I say over a yawn. “Aren’t you supposed to be on a flight?
“We’re getting ready to board now. I just wanted to call and say good morning to my girls.”
Thousands of butterflies flap their wings, ready to take flight in my belly. “You practice today?”
“Nah, not really. We’ll stretch, watch some film, but that’s about it. Our game is tomorrow night. Coach has us going a day early so we’re not jet lagged from traveling.”
“More time away,” I say aloud without thinking.
“Yeah,” he agrees. “I can say it never bothered me until now.”
“Really?” I ask.
“I’ve never really had anyone to miss before. Sure, there’s my family, and I miss them, but I don’t see them every day. But with you and Paisley, it’s… different.”
Those damn butterflies are wreaking havoc. I don’t know what to say to that. Well, I do, but blurting out those three little words over the phone isn’t the way I want to do it. “Stay safe and have a good game.” I know it’s a shitty thing to do, to ignore his declaration, but that’s the only other thing I can come up with right now.
He chuckles. “Ris, I’m going to talk to you again before the game.”
My face heats, and I’m relieved he’s not here to witness it. “I just know you’re busy and I don’t want to distract you.”
“Baby, you’re not a distraction. Well, you are, but in a good way,” he says with a laugh.
“Well, have a safe flight,” I amend.
He chuckles. “I’ll call you girls when I land.”
“Mommy, I wanna say somefing,” Paisley says.
“Hold on a sec, East. P wants to talk to you.”
“East, have a safe flight, bye,” she says before handing the phone back to me.
“She’s something else,” he says with laughter in his voice.
“That she is.”
“Bye, Ris, I’ll talk to you soon,” and with that, the line goes dead.
“Mommy, East is gonna be on TV. Did he tell you? Did he?” Paisley asks excitedly.